Ethiopian cuisine 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ethiopian cuisine characteristically consists of vegetable and often very spicy meat dishes, usually in the form of wat (also w'et or wot), a thick stew, served atop injera, a large sourdough flatbread,^[1] which is about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in diameter and made out of fermented teff flour.^[1] Ethiopians eat exclusively with their right hands, using pieces of injera to pick up bites of entrées and side dishes.^[1] Utensils are rarely used with Ethiopian cuisine.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church prescribes a number of fasting (tsom Ge'ez: ጾም ṣōm) periods, including Wednesdays, Fridays, and the entire Lenten season, so Ethiopian cuisine contains many dishes that are vegan.^[2]

Overview

Ethiopian cuisine mostly consists of breads, stews (known as wat), grains, and spices. Typically, an Ethiopian meal consists of a combination of injera (flatbread) with different wats, yet each cultural group has their unique variation.

Gurage cuisine additionally makes use of the false banana plant (enset, Ge'ez: እንሰት inset), a type of ensete. The plant is pulverized and fermented to make a bread-like food called qocho or kocho (Ge'ez: ቆጮ ḳōč̣ō), which is eaten with kitfo.^[3] The root of this plant may be powdered and prepared as a hot drink called bulla (Ge'ez: ቡላ būlā), which is often given to those who are tired or ill. Another typical Gurage preparation is coffee with butter (kebbeh).

Pasta is frequently available throughout Ethiopia, including rural areas.^[1] Coffee is also a large part of Ethiopian culture/cuisine; after every meal a coffee ceremony is enacted and espresso coffee is served.

Traditional ingredients

Berbere, a combination of powdered chili pepper and other spices (somewhat analogous to Southwestern American chili powder), is an important ingredient used in many dishes. Also essential is niter kibbeh, a clarified butter infused with ginger, garlic, and several spices.^[4][5]

In their adherence to strict fasting, Ethiopian cooks have developed a rich array of cooking oil sources—besides sesame and safflower—for use as a substitute for animal fats which is forbidden during fasting periods. Ethiopian cuisine also uses nug (also spelled noog, known also as niger seed).^[2]

Dishes

Wat

Wat begins with a large amount of chopped red onion, which is simmered or sauteed in a pot. Once the onions have softened, niter kebbeh (or, in the case of vegan dishes, vegetable oil) is added. Following this, berbere is added to make a spicy keiy wat or keyyih tsebhi. Turmeric is used instead of bebere for a milder alicha wat or both are omitted when making vegetable stews, atkilt wat. Meat such as beef (Amharic: ሥጋ^?[6], səga), chicken (Amharic: ዶሮ^?[7], doro) or Tigrinya: derho^?), fish (Amharic: ዓሣ^?[8], asa), goat or lamb (Amharic: በግ^?[9], beg or Tigrinya: beggi^?) is also added. Legumes such as split peas (Amharic: ክክ^?[10], kək or Tigrinya: kikki^?') or lentils (Amharic: ምስር^?[11], məsər or birsin); or vegetables such as potatoes (Amharic: ድንች^?[12], Dənəch), carrots and chard (Tigrinya: costa) are also used instead in vegan dishes.

Each variation is named by appending the main ingredient to the type of wat; for example: kek alicha wat. However, the word keiy is usually not necessary as the spicy variety is assumed when it is omitted; for example: doro wat. The term atkilt wat is sometimes used to refer to all vegetable dishes, but a more specific name can also be used as in dinich'na caroht wat which translates to "potatoes and carrots stew," but notice the word "atkilt is usually omitted when using the more specific term.

Tibs

Meat along with vegetables are sautéed to make tibs (also tebs, t'ibs, tibbs, etc., Ge'ez ጥብስ ṭibs). Tibs is served in a variety of manners and can range from hot to mild or contain little to no vegetables. There are many variations of tibs, depending on type and size or shape of the cuts of meat used.

The mid-18th century European visitor to Ethiopia, Remedius Prutky, describes tibs as a portion of grilled meat served "to pay a particular compliment or show especial respect to someone."^[13] This is perhaps still true as the dish is still prepared today to commemorate special events and holidays.

Oromo dishes

• Waadii - also known as tibs; specially seasoned
• Anchotte - a common dish in the western part of Oromia (Wallaga)
• Baduu - also known as aybe
• Marqaa - also known as genfo
• Chechebsa
• Qoocco - Although also known as kocho, it is not the Gurage type of kocho but a different kind; a common dish in the western part of Oromia (Wallaga)
• Itto - also known as wat; comprises all sorts of wat, including vegetables and/or meat
• Chuuco - a sweet flavor of whole grain also known as besso; flavored with butter and spices

Gurage dishes

Another distinctively Ethiopian dish is kitfo (frequently spelled ketfo), which consists of raw (or rare) beef mince marinated in mitmita (Ge'ez: ሚጥሚጣ mīṭmīṭā, a very spicy chili powder similar to the berbere) and niter kibbeh. Gored gored is very similar to kitfo, but uses cubed, rather than ground, beef.

Ayibe

Ayibe is a cottage cheese that is mild and crumbly. It is much closer in texture to crumbled feta. Although not quite pressed, the whey has been drained and squeezed out. It is often served as a side dish to soften the effect of very spicy food. It has little to no distinct taste of its own. However, when served separately, it is often mixed with a variety of mild or hot spices typical of Gurage cuisine.

Gomen Kitfo

Gomen kitfo is another typical Gurage dish. Collard greens (ጎመን gōmen) are boiled, dried and then finely chopped and served with butter, chili and spices. It is a dish specially prepared in the occasion of Meskel, a very popular holiday marking the discovery of the True Cross. It is served along with ayibe or sometimes even kitfo in this tradition called dengesa.

Breakfast

Fit-fit or fir-fir—made from shredded injera stir-fried with spices or wat—is a common breakfast dish. Another popular breakfast food is fatira. It consists of a large fried pancake made with flour, often with a layer of egg, eaten with honey. Chechebsa (or kita firfir) resembles a pancake covered with berbere and niter kibbeh, or spices, and may be eaten with a spoon. A porridge, genfo is another common breakfast dish. It is usually served in a large bowl with a dug-out made in the middle of the genfo and filled with spiced niter kibbeh.

Snacks

Typical Ethiopian snacks would be dabo kolo (small pieces of baked bread that are similar to pretzels) or kolo (roasted barley sometimes mixed with other local grains). Kolo is often sold by kiosks and street venders wrapped in a paper cone. Snacking on popcorn is also common.^[1]

Beverages

Coffee

Coffee (buna) holds a legitimate claim as originating from Ethiopia,^[1] where it is a critical component of the economy^[14] and is a central part of Ethiopian beverages.

The coffee ceremony is the traditional serving of coffee, usually after a big meal. It often involves the use of a jebena (ጀበና), a clay coffee pot in which the coffee is boiled. The preparer roasts the coffee beans right in front of guests, then walks around wafting the smoke throughout the room so participants may sample the scent of coffee. Then the preparer grinds the coffee beans in a traditional tool called a mokecha. The coffee is put in to the jebena, boiled with water, and then served with small cups called si'ni. Coffee is usually served with sugar but is also served with salt in many parts of Ethiopia. In some parts of the country, nit kibbeh is added instead of sugar or salt.

Snacks such as popcorn or toasted barley (or kollo) is often served with the coffee. In most homes a dedicated coffee area is surrounded by fresh grass, with special furniture for the coffee maker. A complete ceremony has three rounds of coffee (Abol, Tona and Bereka) and is accompanied by the burning of frankincense.

Alcoholic

Tej is a potent honey wine,^[1] similar to mead, that is frequently served in bars (in particular, in a tej bet or "tej house"). Katikala and araqe are inexpensive local spirits that are very strong.

Tella is a home-brewed beer served in "tella bet" ("tella" houses) which specialize in serving "tella" only. "Tella" is the most common beverage made and served in households during holidays.

Non-alcoholic

Ambo Mineral Water or Ambo wuha is a bottled carbonated mineral water, sourced from the springs in Ambo Senkele near the town of Ambo.^[1][15]

Atmet is a barley and oat-flour based drink that is cooked with water, sugar and kibe (Ethiopian clarified butter) until the ingredients have married and become a consistency slightly thicker than egg-nog. Though this drink is often given to women who are nursing, the sweetness and smooth texture make it a comfort drink for anyone who enjoys its flavor.

Gursha

A gursha is an act of friendship and love. When eating injera, a person uses his or her right hand to strip off a piece, wraps it around some wat or kitfo, and then puts it into his or her mouth. During a meal with friends or family, it is a common custom to feed others in the group with your hands by putting the rolled injera or a spoon full of other dishes into another's mouth. This is called a gursha, and the larger the gursha, the stronger the friendship or bond.^[16] This tradition was popularized and celebrated in a Simpsons episode featuring Ethiopian cuisine.^[17]

The entire wiki link can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_cuisine

 

Survival food 101

       If times get hard, even I'll eat whatever. Here's one example of a menu:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005A15YUU/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

            Now for whatever reason, potato soups appeal to me. Here's one link to some recipes:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipe-collections/potato-soup/index.html

            And it is the expectation that things will get better, like more food and meals. Even during our attack into Iraq, now decades ago, most Marines were told to expect one meal a day during the assault. After all, we do need to eat.

            I especially like the idea of just boiling water and mixing it with the mix, even at O' dark thirty.  That is usually good for my morale.

            Now I read even potatoes are not the be all, end all, as far as diet goes. So even I have some vitamin  supplements  ready to go, too. I still fear the idea of diseases that result from malnutrition.

            Never the less, homemade  and home grown local food is good for my morale, or so I think.  I especially appreciate consuming it early in the morning after a security patrol. I also like to enjoy making my raised garden for growing mostly potatoes, with some other vegetables thrown in, too. I am optimistic.  I like eating, and trying to be healthy, too.

Do I Need to Buy Seed Potatoes or Can I Just Grow Potatoes from the Grocery Store?

Buying seed potatoes from a nursery catalog can be pretty pricey and its not really necessary. The only real advantages are that they sort them for uniformity of size (not a big deal), you know that they're ready for planting (see the discussion about dormancy below) and you can find some exotic varieties. We just use potatoes we saved from last year's harvest or buy them straight out of the produce section at the grocery store. 
The term "seed-potato" can be misleading. Potatoes do, on occasion produce seeds, but growers do not grow their crops from them. Instead, they grow them from small sprouting potatoes. Any potato, with sprouting eyes, that's at least the size of a chicken egg has the means to yield up to five pounds of fresh potatoes (Generally speaking, the smaller varieties of potatoes grow to maturity faster but yield less harvest.) 

Potatoes are unique in that their growth cycle is not determined by length of day (as so many other plants are.) Potatoes have an internal clock that requires them to be dormant for a prescribed amount of time--different lengths for different varieties of potatoes. They won't sprout until their dormancy cycle has been reached. This is why some potatoes are better storage potatoes, because they won't start sprouting before you've eaten all the ones you want to eat.

 

When we want to plant more potatoes than we've saved from the previous year's harvest, we start looking for seed potatoes at the grocery store in late January (mid-winter in northern latitudes) and continue to buy them through till mid-spring. Many of the potatoes that have been in storage for the winter start to sprout in the warehouses at that time and you can get them for better prices. When selecting potatoes to plant, look for ones that already show signs of budding/sprouting from the eyes as this way you know they are viable for growing. Choose the variety you like best. Potatoes do not "cross pollinate". This means that, if you plant a russet, by golly you'll get a russet. (Note: one of our favorites is the Yukon Gold. They last a long time in winter storage and we like the flavor/texture too.) 

Potatoes need 70-90 days from planting to maturity so count backwards from your first frost date, or when you wish to begin eating your harvest! The exotic potatoes that come into the markets, and the small, egg-sized, common varieties are usually quite fresh; as they don't keep a long time in storage. They too won't be ready for planting till they naturally go through their dormancy cycle—four to six months. We haven't tried this but I read that you can hasten the dormancy by storing the potatoes in a cool, moist place for a few months and then putting them in a dryer, warmer (but still dark) area.

It is important that you buy organic potatoes because many of the commercially grown ones are sprayed with a "sprout-retardant" which gives them a longer shelf-life and this can delay their sprouting until the potato actually rots.

If the potatoes you have are only just starting to sprout and the buds aren't very long, keep them in the dark to encourage more sprouting. Once the buds are at least 3/4 of an inch long, it's time to "chit" them. (see article about

 

How many to get? Each plant will take up about 12 - 16 inches of row space. If stored well, they will last for up to six months before starting to sprout again. Figure on 3-5 pounds of yield per potato you plant. What size should you get? Ideally you will find them that are about the size of a chicken's egg. Larger potatoes can be cut and allowed to skin over so they won't rot when you plant them.
What if they aren't already sprouting? If you can find potatoes that already have "eyes" that are budding, so much the better. This way you know they are viable for planting. As long as you buy organic potatoes (that have not been sprayed with sprout retardant), and allow 3-4 months time for them to begin to sprout, they do not already need to be sprouting.

When is it time to plant potatoes? Here in the S. Willamette Valley, unless you have raised beds, you need to wait to plant them till the ground dries out a bit. We planted them in early-April one year, when things were especially cool and wet and they just rotted in the ground. Depending on the variety you plant, they take 13 to 17 weeks to ripen. You may wish to plant them in succession so you'll have some potatoes to eat fresh and, the later harvests will last longer through the winter.

 

Storage: If you buy them in a plastic bag, transfer them into a cardboard box or paper sack so they don't rot before you get to them. Keep them in a cool, dark place, with good air circulation until they sprout. Layering them in a tub with leaves or straw, or sawdust works too. Just be sure to keep them from freezing.

Now I also read that store bought potatoes are often "sprayed" to tamp down the "eyes" growing. Right now I don't know what to believe And all I want to do is eat.

Mother's Day

            Here's a long wiki link on the subject: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Day

Trust, faith, and confidence in going to the doctor

       Let's face it, we humans have been going to our doctors since time immemorial.  I always suspected it was some kind of intrinsic human faith and instinct that is the reason. But I really don't know for sure.

            And let's also face it, our present day doctors and dentists and veterinarians are" generally speaking"  hard working, well educated, and often smart, too. Kinda like the old days, too, or so I suspect since I did not live back then.

            Even I know some doctors, too. Even some of them were students in another time. They were good people.

            And in theory we have advanced past things like "bleeding" sick people,  germ contaminated surgeries, and other such things.  Even bad drug interactions are better known now, and having computers helps, too.

            And we all are different, boys and girls included. Said another way,  the effects of different drugs do vary, including the snake oil type things.

            Yet in the back of my mind, I worry that maybe even today some bad practices are being taught, mostly because that is "accepted practice", like bleeding sick people used to be taught. I always thought this was taught in the west's medical schools, but I really don't know for sure.  I even fall back on my own experience where seeing a doctor who spoke English as a first language was an unique experience.  Now in fairness, most of our medical problems, usually called being sick or hurt, can be treated by corpsman, medics, nurses, etc.  Etc. can include we the people, too.

            Which leads to my point. If we get to a hard time situation, often we can provide our own health care for our loved ones, as best we can. Now a little knowledge can go a long way, and also can make us knowledgeable enough to be dangerous.

            Hence, I don't despair, at least not yet. And I am referring to hard times, and having to take care of my loved ones, as best I can, like we can't get to a doctor or hospital, or even to the gateway things.  And last, sometimes the patient dies, even during hard times. In this case, often whether a doctor is there or not is often secondary.

            What's the old joke. Two things are inevitable; taxes, and death. So even today's doctors can't cheat the grim reaper, and neither can you or me.

Mesh 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 

Mesh consists of semi-permeable barrier made of connected strands of metal, fiber, or other flexible/ductile material. Mesh is similar to web or net in that it has many attached or woven strands.

Types of mesh

• A plastic mesh is extruded, oriented, expanded or tubular. Plastic mesh can be made from polypropylene, polyethylene, nylon, PVC or PTFE.
• A metal mesh can be woven, knitted, welded, expanded, photo-chemically etched or electroformed (screen filter) from steel or other metals.
• In clothing, a mesh is often defined as a loosely woven or knitted fabric that has a large number of closely spaced holes, frequently used for modern sports jerseys and other clothing.
• A mesh skin graft is a skin patch that has been cut systematically to create a mesh. Meshing of skin grafts provides coverage of a greater surface area at the recipient site, and also allows for the egress of serous or sanguinous fluid. However, it results in a rather pebbled appearance upon healing that may ultimately look less aesthetically pleasing.^[1]

Uses of mesh

• Meshes are often used to screen out unwanted things, such as insects. Wire screens on windows and mosquito netting can be considered as types of meshes.
• Wire screens can be used to shield against radio frequency radiation, e.g. in microwave ovens and Faraday cages.
• Metal and nylon wire mesh filters are used in filtration
• Wire mesh is used in guarding for secure areas and as protection in the form of vandal screens.
• Wire mesh can be fabricated to produce park benches, waste baskets and other baskets for material handling.
• A huge quantity of mesh is being used for screen printing work.
• Surgical mesh is used to provide a reinforcing structure in surgical procedures like inguinal hernioplasty, and umbilical hernia repair.
• Meshes are also used as drum heads in practice and electronic drum sets. 

The entire wiki article can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesh

Is Thinking Obsolete? 

By Thomas Sowell 

While it is not possible to answer all the e-mails and letters from readers, many are thought-provoking, whether those thoughts are positive or negative.

 An e-mail from one young man simply asked for the sources of some facts about gun control that were mentioned in a recent column. It is good to check out the facts -- especially if you check out the facts on both sides of an issue.

By contrast, another man simply denounced me because of what was said in that column. He did not ask for my sources but simply made contrary assertions, as if his assertions must be correct and therefore mine must be wrong.

He identified himself as a physician, and the claims that he made about guns were claims that had been made years ago in a medical journal -- and thoroughly discredited since then. He might have learned that, if we had engaged in a back and forth discussion, but it was clear from his letter that his goal was not debate but denunciation. That is often the case these days.

It is always amazing how many serious issues are not discussed seriously, but instead simply generate assertions and counter-assertions. On television talk shows, people on opposite sides often just try to shout each other down.

There is a remarkable range of ways of seeming to argue without actually producing any coherent argument.

Decades of dumbed-down education no doubt have something to do with this, but there is more to it than that. Education is not merely neglected in many of our schools today, but is replaced to a great extent by ideological indoctrination. Moreover, it is largely indoctrination based on the same set of underlying and unexamined assumptions among teachers and institutions.

If our educational institutions -- from the schools to the universities -- were as interested in a diversity of ideas as they are obsessed with racial diversity, students would at least gain experience in seeing the assumptions behind different visions and the role of logic and evidence in debating those differences.

Instead, a student can go all the way from elementary school to a Ph.D. without encountering any fundamentally different vision of the world from that of the prevailing political correctness.

Moreover, the moral perspective that goes with this prevailing ideological view is all too often that of people who see themselves as being on the side of the angels against the forces of evil -- whether the particular issue at hand is gun control, environmentalism, race or whatever.

A moral monopoly is the antithesis of a marketplace of ideas. One sign of this sense of moral monopoly among the left intelligentsia is that the institutions most under their control -- the schools, colleges and universities -- have far less freedom of speech than the rest of American society.

While advocacy of homosexuality, for example, is common on college campuses, and listening to this advocacy is often obligatory during freshman orientation, criticism of homosexuality is called "hate speech" that is subject to punishment.

While spokesmen for various racial or ethnic groups are free to vehemently denounce whites as a group for their past or present sins, real or otherwise, any white student who similarly denounces the sins or shortcomings of non-white groups can be virtually guaranteed to be punished, if not expelled.

Even students who do not advocate anything can have to pay a price if they do not go along with classroom brainwashing. The student at Florida Atlantic University who recently declined to stomp on a paper with the word "Jesus" on it, as ordered by the professor, was scheduled for punishment by the university until the story became public and provoked an outcry from outside academia.

This professor's action might be dismissed as an isolated extreme, but the university establishment's initial solid backing for him, and its coming down hard on the student, shows that the moral dry rot goes far deeper than one brainwashing professor.

The failure of our educational system goes beyond what they fail to teach. It includes what they do teach, or rather indoctrinate, and the graduates they send out into the world, incapable of seriously weighing alternatives for themselves or for American society.

Bondi Beach Makeover: Just in Time for Chinese Tourists

By Jonathan DeHart

 

 

 

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Bondi Beach, one of Australia’s best-known stretches of sand and Sydney’s third most visited spot, is about to become a lot greener. On Tuesday the Waverly Council unveiled an ambitious ten-year blueprint to replace the concrete aspects of the iconic spot with grass, trees and structures for shade. In particular, the areas of the swaths of the beach currently dedicated to parking will take on more natural contours.

"Just to spruce it up, can you imagine not having cars?" said Waverly mayor Sally Betts.

New parking areas would be built out of sight in multi-level underground garages. Meanwhile, above ground, large areas would become pedestrian-only, including a new boardwalk. Toilets, playgrounds and fitness equipment will be upgraded, alongside a skate park and cafes with views of the surf.

Leading up to the beach, a tree-lined boulevard will funnel sun lovers to the beach entrance via the Bondi Pavilion, an arts and culture space built during the early 20^th century that once housed a ballroom and Turkish baths, which will be restored to its former glory. The beach will also become more fun, with volleyball – previously banned – approved at its south end.

“We were conscious of preserving Bondi's heritage and character while finding ways to enhance and boost its cultural vitality,” said Betts, who touted the new vision for Bondi – open to public comment until the end of May – as “the biggest change ever” for the one-kilometer sliver of coastline. Betts added, “There are more people coming to Bondi all the time.”

Indeed, there are. At present, Bondi lures some 50,000 visitors on an average summer day and 1.8 million people yearly (some estimates say 2.2 million). Among those who come to splash in the water and soak up the sun, 1.1 million come from overseas. About half of all visitors to Sydney make the pilgrimage to the beach.

Ranking in popularity only behind the city’s famous Opera House and Harbour Bridge, Bondi (an Aboriginal word referring to the sound of breaking waves) has a history of charming visitors. Over time it has amassed a certain cache, conjuring images of surfboards, BBQ and nightlife – an image that has been used to great effect in tourism efforts.

While a healthy flow of tourist traffic comes from the United States and Britain, there is a more significant trend worth noting: the visitors to Bondi are increasingly Chinese, who are flocking to the beach in droves – a fact well noted by the Australian government.

In 2012, Chinese visitors to Australia were triple the level of a decade ago, growing 16 percent on year to account for nearly 630,000 of Australia’s six million overseas arrivals – second only to New Zealand – according to statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is only the beginning. Last year, Chinese officially surpassed German and American tourists as the biggest spenders on tourism, with 83 million people spending a total of U.S. $102 billion on overseas travel. By 2015, a report by the UN suggests, 100 million Chinese will go on holiday overseas.

In an effort to lure as much of this traffic as possible to Australia, still fresh from rubbing elbows with Xi Jinping last month, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the A$1.75 million “G’Day China” campaign in Shanghai. The effort will effectively be a A$175 million crusade to woo Chinese travelers in 2014. Judging from the last such campaign, “G’Day USA” – which had celebrities like Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman on board – the China push will be executed with style and panache.

Campaign or not, Australia won’t have to work too hard. The country seems ready made for Chinese travelers. In the Visa PATA Travel Intention Survey, aimed at finding out what Chinese tourists crave most, three things came to the fore: “natural scenery, sunshine and beaches.” It sounds like Bondi’s makeover is coming just in time.

Ticks

       Here's one link on ticks:  http://www.emedicinehealth.com/ticks/article_em.htm#ticks_overview_and_life_cycle

       There are many more.

The Case for Pre-Emptive War, From Goliath to the Dardanelles

Some lessons for Israel as it contemplates an attack on Iran's nuclear program.

By Andrew RobertsBBBB

When—and it is most probably now a question of when, rather than if—Israel is forced to bomb Iran's uranium enrichment facilities, the Israeli government will immediately face a cacophony of denunciation from the press in America and abroad; the international left; the United Nations General Assembly; 20 secretly delighted but fantastically hypocritical Arab states; some Democratic legislators in Washington, D.C.; and a large assortment of European politicians. Critics will doubtless harp on about international law and claim that no right exists for pre-emptive military action. So it would be wise for friends of Israel to mug up on their ancient and modern history to refute this claim.

The right, indeed the duty, of nations to proactively defend themselves from foes who seek their destruction with new and terrifying weaponry far pre-dates President George W. Bush and Iraq. It goes back earlier than Israel's successful pre-emptive attacks on Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981 (not to mention other pre-emptive Israeli attacks like the one on the Syrian nuclear program in 2007). It even predates Israel's 1967 pre-emption of massed Arab armies, a move that saved the Jewish state. History is replete with examples when pre-emption was successful, as well as occasions when, because pre-emption wasn't employed, catastrophe struck.

When it became clear that the Emperor Napoleon was about to commandeer the large and formidable Danish navy stationed at Copenhagen in 1807, the British Royal Navy attacked without a declaration of war and either sank, disabled or captured almost the entire fleet. No one screamed about "international law" in those days, of course, any more than statesmen would have cared if they had. Neither did Winston Churchill give any warning to the Ottoman Empire, a German ally, when he ordered the bombardment of the Dardanelles Outer Forts in November 1914, also without a war declaration.

Similarly—though there were plenty of warnings given—Britain was formally at peace with her former ally France in July 1940 when Churchill ordered the sinking of the French fleet harbored near Oran in French Algeria, for which he was rightly cheered to the echo in the House of Commons. The sheer danger of a large naval force falling into Hitler's hands when Britain was fighting for its survival during the Battle of Britain justified the action, and the exigencies of international law could rightly go hang.

Looking further back, and thinking counterfactually, as historians are occasionally permitted to do, there have been several wars in which devastating new weaponry spelled disaster for the victims of the power developing them, and the victims would have been much better off using pre-emption.

In the Middle Eastern context, Goliath ought to have charged down David long before he was able to employ his slingshot and river pebbles to such devastating effect. The Egyptians should have attacked the Hittites as soon as the Egyptians suspected they were developing the chariot as a weapon of war. Had the Mayans and Incas assaulted the conquistadores as soon as they stepped ashore—and thus before the Spaniards could deploy their muskets, horses, metal armor, hand-held firearms and smallpox to crush them—they might not have seen their civilizations wiped out.

The Mamelukes and Janisseries shouldn't have waited to be slaughtered by Napoleon's cannon at the battle of the Pyramids; the Khalifa needed to hit Kitchener on his way to Omdurman in the River War of the late 19th century, not once he'd set up his machine guns on the banks of the Nile; and so on.

Often in history, massive pre-emption has been the only sensible strategy when facing a new weapon in the hands of one's sworn enemy, regardless of international law—the sole effect of which has been to hamper the West, since those countries that break it can only be indicted if they lose, whereas civilized powers generally have to abide by its restrictions.

Consider a counterfactual analogy that will weigh heavily on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he struggles with his historic decision. If the French Defense Minister André Maginot, instead of investing so heavily in his defensive line in the mid-1930s, had thought offensively about how to smash the German army the moment it crossed the Versailles Treaty's "red lines" in the Saar and the Rhineland, some six million Jews might have survived.

The slingshot, chariot, musket, cannon, machine-guns: All were used to devastating effect against opponents that seemed to be stronger with conventional weaponry but were overcome by the weaker power with new weapons that weren't pre-emptively destroyed. Since President Obama's second inaugural address has made it painfully obvious that the U.S. will not act to prevent Iran from enriching more than 250 kilos of 20% enriched uranium, enough for a nuclear bomb, Israel will have to.

Mr. Netanyahu might not have international bien pensant opinion on his side as he makes his choice, but he has something far more powerful: the witness of history.

Mr. Roberts, a historian, is the author, most recently, of "The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War" (Harper, 2011).

My Global Philosophy Course

The Great Books class that I teach on the Web has convinced me: Real learning is possible online.

By Michael S. Roth

When I mention online learning to my colleagues at Wesleyan University, most respond initially with skepticism. But based on my experience, I know that real learning can take place on the Web.

I am currently teaching a massive online open course, or MOOC, on Coursera. Most MOOCs have great attrition, and mine is no exception: There were almost 30,000 students registered at the start, yet 4,000 remain active as we near the end of the semester. Unlike most MOOCs, which focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, mine is a classic humanities course. "The Modern and the Postmodern" starts off in the 18th century with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant, and we work our way toward the present.

When I tell people about my course, they often fixate on its size, and I have to admit that initially I was awe-struck by the number and variety of students. Study groups in Bulgaria and India, in Russia and Boston made me giddy at the reach of this kind of class. Yet despite the diversity of my students' academic preparation, age, national origin and economic status, most of their concerns echo those I've heard over many years of teaching: Can I get an extension? My computer ate my homework. I don't like my grade.

But there are other comments that I don't regularly hear in the classroom. One of the more interesting threads on our online discussion board focused on the question: "Why do you feel that you need to learn at all?"

The first response, from a graduate student in the Netherlands, quoted Hegel about knowledge healing the wound that knowing created. Another adult student, in Germany, wrote in about the "runner's high" she got when she understood a difficult text. A young woman in Singapore described the course as "igniting the fire for learning."

Reading the comments on the discussion board or on the class's Facebook page gives me a sense of connection to students I have never met face-to-face. An American woman wrote to me that she was taking the class with her husband and two other couples; all had Ph.D.'s. Politely, they wondered whether I was really committed to connecting the idea of the modern to the Enlightenment, which was not what she remembered being taught in graduate school. They also asked if I would make the video lectures available after the official end of the class. They were falling a little behind and didn't want to miss anything.

This month we organized a Google Hangout in which several students (chosen by lottery) could participate in a free-flowing discussion about the reading and lectures. We recorded the hour long session and made it available to everyone else in the class. Our hangout included people in Calcutta, São Paulo, southwest France and . . . Rhode Island.

The first question from India was about the 19th century French poet Charles Baudelaire. We'd talked about his notion of the flâneur, the happy wanderer in the modern city. The Indian student wanted to know how I'd connect this idea to his notion of the way many of our senses can be activated by powerful works of art. The student from Brazil said the week's reading by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ludwig Wittgenstein was "mind blowing," and she asked how their ideas of memory related to those of the other modern authors we'd read.

This hour long, intense discussion wasn't a "massive" conversation; it was a colloquy mediated by technology. Thousands of other students would watch the hangout, and many of them would resume these conversations in different forms—from face-to face meetings in cafes to virtual encounters in online chat rooms.

Students on college campuses weave classes into a holistic learning context that, at its best, can be transformative. I have never expected that my MOOC would be a substitute for the courses I give on campus. But I am sure that many of those enrolled in the online version have also discovered texts and people that are having profound effects on their lives.

Teaching this MOOC has shown me that online courses will be increasingly viable and valuable learning options for those who can't make their way to campuses. Taking a course online is clearly not the same thing as integrating study with residential experience, but it is a powerful mode of learning that is already enriching millions of lives across the globe.

Mr. Roth is president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. and the author of "Memory, Trauma, and History: Essays on Living with the Past" (Columbia University, 2011).